Medical marijuana licensing in Illinois will undergo a legal review that critics fear will further delay the process of getting the drug to patients.
Internal documents suggested that the former administration of Gov. Pat Quinn evaluated and ranked the license applications and prepared a press release to announce the winners, but for unexplained reasons never made the announcement before leaving office. With no new timetable offered by Gov. Bruce Rauner's office, the setback has deepenedfrustrations for patients who have waited more than a year since medical pot was legalized in Illinois.
In response to Freedom of Information requests, Rauner's office released documents Sunday showing the rankings by his predecessor. While Quinn left the licensing process for Rauner to complete, the new governor said that won't happen until his office reviews how Quinn's administration evaluated the applications.
"The governor's office will conduct a thorough legal review of the process used by the Quinn administration and refer our findings to the attorney general's office," Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said. "No licenses will be granted until this process is thoroughly reviewed."
The sometimes-conflicting internal documents further muddied a selection process that critics, including Rauner, have called secretive and open to favoritism.
Under a state law passed in 2013, state agencies were to score and rank applications for 21 facilities to grow marijuana, and 60 retail stores to sell it.
Regulators had planned to choose who would receive the potentially lucrative licenses by the end of 2014, but they have not done so. Upon leaving office Jan. 12, the Quinn administration stated that regulators had completed most of the work, but to avoid rushing the process, the Rauner administration would finish the job.
The documents include lists of applicants who apparently scored the best in each district, based on business plan, security, expertise, community benefits and other factors.
But there are seeming discrepancies between the lists and draft announcements of the winners that were never released.
The first draft, for instance, in an email dated Jan. 5, listed no applicant names, but highlighted two regions, Cook County and state police District 22 downstate, where cultivation licenses were "to be awarded during future selection period."
The fourth draft, dated Jan. 11, the day before Quinn left office, and sent by program coordinator Bob Morgan, lists 12 entities that "were issued licenses," and nine cases where "selection process is ongoing."
Applicants themselves say they're left to wonder what the documents mean for their prospects.
Effingham attorney Matthew Hortenstine, co-owner of HealthCentral LLC, which was highlighted in the rankings as "disqualified," said it was too early to tell if that is truly the final word.
"I don't know who the author is or whether they're authentic conclusions," he said. "The agencies have not come out with a formal decision on anything."
Kenneth Mollan applied to open a medical marijuana dispensary in downstate Peru. In the documents released Sunday night, his business, THC - The Holistic Company, was listed as "disqualified" for failing to provide proof of $400,000.
Like other applicants, he said he hadn't heard a thing about the rankings from regulators.
"I'm a small businessman who decided to take a risk," he said.
Chicago attorney Alex Thiersch and business partner John Dohm, of Rockford, spent more than a year applying for six licenses for Salveo Health and Wellness. The state's unofficial list didn't rank them first in any of the districts. But with a new governor in office, they're left wondering what to do now.
"There needs to be some direction given by the state some time very soon," Thiersch said. "Groups like ours who have investment capital to spend need to know what to do with it. We're starting a private equity fund, too, to invest in cannabis. The question becomes, do we even look at Illinois now or do we go elsewhere?"
The released documents also addressed other issues. In an apparent response to criticism of the medical marijuana law, which keeps all application information secret from the public, an email from program coordinator Morgan proposed changing the law to allow for the release of applications.
He called for ending the criminal background check for patients, arguing that it unfairly penalized patients with crimes from long ago. He also suggested clarifying the law to allow for the intended 22 cultivation centers rather than 21, and to extend the end of the pilot program from 2017 to 2019.
Morgan remains in his post under Rauner but could not be reached for comment Monday.
Regardless of those suggestions, marijuana advocates took a dim view of the latest developments.
Dan Linn, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Illinois, said some dispensary owners were upset that they weren't awarded bonus points for minority- or veteran-owned businesses, and others appeared to be disqualified to avoid apparent conflicts of interest.
"It's definitely putting politics over people," Linn said.